Devante艾萨克斯 knows the power of hard work and determination. 这是有帮助的 他为实现成为一名律师的终身梦想迈出了每一步.

艾萨克斯曾就读于蒙哥马利县社区学院(Montgomery County Community College)，获得了MBA学位，现在是一名职业女性 从法学院毕业后，在纽约州最大的律师事务所之一工作 他记得高中毕业后，看着他的朋友们纷纷搬去上大学 没有他.

“你 feel left behind,” he said. “On some level, you feel like you’re failing at life. 这不是真的.”

2011年毕业于北宾夕法尼亚高中(North Penn High School)的艾萨克斯就是一个典型的例子 努力工作和坚持不懈可能是未来成功的关键，即使并非总是如此 我想早点来.

艾萨克上高中的时候，他会第一个告诉你他不是一个好学生.

“I didn't exactly hate school. I just didn't like doing work that I didn't want to do. I was actually in honors English and math. So, my grades weren't all that bad. 如果我真的努力学习，去上课，我本可以做得更好。. “I wanted to be a mechanic. I considered going to technical school at one point. 一个 有一天开关被打开了. I knew I could do more than this. I was smart enough to just get by as a B or B-minus student. My mom used to say you could get As in your sleep. I just wasn’t invested in school.”

达到标准

2011年秋天，在母亲的建议下，艾萨克决定入读MCCC 在进入一所四年制大学之前，他需要一段时间在家里成熟起来.

“My mother has always been right. Even when she’s wrong, she’s right,” 艾萨克斯说. “也许我会听她的.”  

由单身母亲和祖母抚养长大的艾萨克从未见过自己的父亲. 他所做的 看看他生命中的两个女人是多么努力地养活他，她们给他灌输了什么 a value in working to get what you want in life. To pay for school, Isaacs balanced 在大众汽车经销店、乡村新娘和根特以及蒙哥马利维尔打三份工 菲尔.

“I didn’t sleep much,” he said.

His time studying at MCCC as a 工商管理 major, he said, was the perfect training for law school. 博士. 弗兰·拉西特是非洲人 以美国文学为例，艾萨克记得他读了大量的材料， 写长篇文章，必须站起来回答有关文学的问题 they were covering in class.

他说:“如果你不阅读材料，你在课堂上就会显得很蠢。.

Those skills would later serve him well, he said.

“在法学院，我们从头到尾读了所有这些书，它们都很长，”艾萨克斯说. “Constitutional Law is 1,500 pages. 我们用了一个学期的时间读完它. 你必须把它煮开 down to an outline and there’s one exam. There’s no participation grade. Dr. 东街 真正帮助我学会了如何深入文本，看到什么是重要的，培养 it and turn it into an essay to turn into my professor. 我真的很想给Dr. Fran 东街 a lot of credit.”

Isaacs said he remains in touch with Dr. 东街 and asked her to review his personal statement letters for his MBA and law school entrance applications.

Dr. 东街 praised her former student for his sticktoitiveness.

“我要祝贺德万特·艾萨克斯继续取得成功，并感谢他 提醒我为什么永不放弃或屈服是如此重要，”她说. “在 博士的话. 马丁·路德·金., ‘If you can't fly then run, if you can't run 那就走，走不了就爬，但无论你做什么，你都要一直走 向前.’”

Isaacs also credited former administrator Dr. Wendell Griffith and Academic Advisor/Counselor Edward Brown for making sure he went to class. Isaacs was a mentee in the Multicultural Student Mentoring Initiative program (MSMI)于书院举行. Dr. 拉西特是他的导师. Dr. Griffith served as Coordinator of Mentoring 服务 and Brown served as the academic advisor.

“他们会 say, ‘We’ve seen how smart you are. 你只是做你自己. 停止 脚踏实地的. 给 it effort and see what happens,’” 艾萨克斯说. “所以，我给了它更多 这给我带来了实习和工作的机会，我意识到你可以做一个 这个世界的命运.”

Brown and Griffith remember Isaacs fondly.

“当他在学院的时候，他是我们必须保持优势的人 布朗说. “We are truly proud of his success as a student and beyond Montco.”

“It's great to hear about Devante艾萨克斯' success,” said Griffith. “我们的挑战 我们所有的学生都要提高他们在学科、心理等方面的技能 toughness, and organizational skills. Devante continues to utilize these habits of achievement beyond the college. We are extremely proud of Devante and know he will soar to higher levels of success as he moves 向前!”  

Isaacs also leaned on his friends to help him get through school. 他和他的童年 德克斯特·希和特·巴德是朋友，他们会互相督促，争取在课堂上取得成功. Shy and Budd were also members of the 野马 男子篮球队.

“我们互相问责，”艾萨克斯说，“并且确实确保我们做了我们应该做的事情 needed to do to graduate from Montco and keep soaring.”

他毕业于玛丽伍德大学，现在是里士满的一名医药销售代表 Va. 艾萨克斯说. Budd graduated from Temple University and is a business analyst.

为成功而着装

2013年春天，艾萨克完成了在MCCC的学业，转学到天普大学 to study 工商管理 with a focus on legal studies. 三年后 他完成了坦普尔大学的学业，并向法学院递交了申请.

“I’ve known I wanted to be a lawyer since the third grade,” he said. “在求职日， I was the only kid dressed in a double-breasted suit.”

艾萨克对法律的热情可以追溯到他19岁的时候 律师在帮助他的一个面临法律麻烦的朋友时表现出的技巧和从容.

“我看到了这个人是如何控制周围的一切. 他们会 看着别人的眼睛说:“嘿，这就是我需要你关注的。.是的。 like 50,000 things at once and yet they were in such control. 他们很冷静，很酷 和收集. That was what made up my mind. I’m going to give that a shot.”

Except getting into law school wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped. While his resume included 在费城地方检察官办公室实习，表现不佳 意味着艾萨克没有被任何法学院录取 he applied, except one, which he chose not to attend.

“这是第一次事情没有完全按照我想要的方式发展，”艾萨克斯说. “I threw myself a pity party. I started going out and partying. 妈妈打电话给我 and told me to get my life together. “这一次，你输了. 欢迎来到现实世界.’”

So, he decided to pursue an MBA. With the pandemic beginning to hit, Isaacs enrolled 参加了西切斯特大学的速成课程，并在一年零四个月的时间内完成了学业. 然而，当他参加一次招聘会时，一位雇主阻止了他.

“He was like ‘Let me pull you aside for a second. This isn’t what you want to do. 看看你的周围. No one here is dressed like you. I can tell by the way you’re walking; 你不会想这么做的. As I read your resume, you want to be a lawyer. 我有 毫无疑问，我可以雇用你，给你一份不错的薪水，你可以胜任任何工作 分配给你. Yet something in the back of your mind wants to go to law school. 你 need to go back to the drawing table.’”

看大局

Isaacs agreed and decided to give it another shot. This time he studied much harder and took the LSAT exam again, and earned a much better score. 他毕业于西部大学 Chester于2021年获得MBA学位，并被南卡罗莱纳大学录取 Joseph F. 莱斯法学院.

他在那里学习了一年，然后得到了Van律师事务所的实习机会 Horn Law Group, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to work in bankruptcy over the summer. 在 那次，他遇到了他现在的律师事务所Cole Scott的合伙人艾丽莎·托恩伯格(Alyssa Tornberg) Kissane. 她问他是否有兴趣在一家更大的公司工作，最终 雇他当职员. The University of South Carolina allows law students to transfer 到另一所法学院学习第三年，完成学业并顺利毕业 从节目中. Isaacs currently visits the Nova Southeastern University School 他将于2024年5月从南卡罗莱纳大学毕业.

毕业后，艾萨克斯计划从事医疗事故辩护案件.

当他回顾到目前为止他在生活中所取得的所有成功时，艾萨克说他认为 关于他作为MCCC学生所奠定的基础，并鼓励现在的MCCC学生 跟随他的脚步.

“当我告诉你的时候，那个机构让我准备好去挑战更大的机构，比如 Temple, West Chester University, The University of South Carolina. 我看不见 在学校里，”他说. “Now when it’s all said and done, I can really say I did better in school because that’s where I started. It allowed me to mature, separate fun from business, get the grades and compartmentalize what’s important. 你欠的贷款少了; 两年后你成熟了，意识到什么是重要的，什么是不重要的.”